Amazing Race recap: Botswana leg

So far, we’ve seen quite a few firsts on this 22nd season of the Amazing Race. A stop in Bora Bora. A tandem skydive from a helicopter. But a fair number of these “historic” firsts have impacted just two teams.

Cocky surfer John and his girlfriend, Jessica, were the first team in Amazing Race history to secure two Express Passes (one for themselves and one to give to another team). However, they also received the dubious distinction of being the first team to ever be eliminated from the Race with an Express Pass in their possession. Knowing they were struggling, Jessica had suggested using the Pass, but John refused to let go of it. Even after they had been told they were out of the Race, John continued to defend his decision. What more could you say about John’s stubborness? Leave it to Phil to sum it up nicely at the mat: “Oy vey.”

Father and son cancer survivors, Dave and Connor, also acquired a couple of Amazing Race titles. After Dave tore his Achilles tendon running to the mat on the second leg, the father and son team used the Express Pass given to them by John and Jessica on the following leg to become the first team with a player on crutches, to win not just one, but two legs. Unfortunately, Dave could not continue the Race with his injury and he and Connor also became the first team to ever voluntarily withdraw from the Race. With an emotional goodbye, Connor declared he would have rather run just four legs of the Race with his father, than to run the entire Race and win a million dollars with anyone else.

Luckily for slow-pokes Chuck and Wynona, Dave and Connor’s withdrawal from the Race during the fifth leg meant that Team Alabama would be saved from elimination.

With Pam and Winnie in first place and Chuck and Wynona bringing up the rear, Sunday night’s episode had teams leave Vietnam for Maun in the Kalahari Desert. Before booking their flights, teams had to figure out that Maun is located in the country of Botswana or the security guard would not let them in the travel agency. Most teams realized they could easily find the answer using the Internet, or rely on friendly teams to tell them the answer. Chuck and Wynona, however, thought it would be a good idea to just yell random countries at the guard until one stuck. A seemingly ridiculous strategy, but it eventually worked.

Once in Maun, teams flew in tiny planes to a national park on the outskirts of the Kalahari Desert. The flights were shaky, but the views were amazing (“We saw elephants!”). Hockey players Bates and Anthony and country singers Caroline and Jennifer managed to keep calm during the flight by flirting their way through the turbulence. Joey, who held on to the seat in front of him with white knuckles, was not so lucky.

On the ground, teams were given their first Roadblock, which had one player dig for a scorpion with a trio of bushmen. Speaking only their native tongue, the bushmen led players through the, uh, bush and showed them how to dig a hole to locate a scorpion. Naturally, most of the players were mildly scared of the pinching scorpions and more than mildly concerned when the bushmen put the scorpions in their own mouths to sedate them. But none were as freaked out as jittery Joey, who yelped and jumped and cried, “I’m just 21 years old, I don’t want to die!” He calmed himself down enough to finally put the scorpion in the jar and dubbed himself, quite ironically (but not to him), the “Scorpion King Hunter.”

After finding their scorpions, teams had to then drive their bushmen to the Detour, a choice between Fire (making fire with two sticks, zebra manure and grass) or Fowl (setting a trap to catch a guinea fowl, then acting like a fowl to set off the trap).

The teams in the lead (hockey players, country singers, roller derby moms, Joey and Meghan and Max and Katie) all decided to try to start fire. Probably an unwise decision for anyone who’s watched Survivor. Starting a fire is hard! Well, not so hard for Bates and Anthony, who managed to get one started fairly quickly. But the rest of them struggled. Even Max who thought he could handle this because he’s in cigar sales (?), but then soon realized he doesn’t normally light cigars with “a stick and poo.”

Meanwhile, Pam and Winnie and Chuck and Wynona who were lagging behind at the back of the pack, chose to set traps for guinea fowl. Second nature for hunter and taxidermist Chuck and a wise choice for these two teams as it propelled them to second (Pam and Winnie) and third place (Chuck and Wynona) at the mat, behind Bates and Anthony who won a trip to Phuket, Thailand for their first-place finish.

Struggling at the fire-making challenge, Caroline and Jennifer, Joey and Meghan and roller derby moms Mona and Beth decided to switch challenges. Max and Katie, mistakenly, tried to stick it out at the fire challenge, and then finally decided to switch, which put them in last place behind, Joey and Meghan, Caroline and Jennifer and Mona and Beth. Luckily for Max and Katie, this was a non-elimination round, which means they’ll encounter a speed bump on the next leg of the Race.

Will Bates and Anthony continue to lead the pack? Will Joey continue to freak out at every little thing? And will there be a challenge that forces Chuck to shave off his mullet? (It’s not without precedent!)

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CTV and CBS.

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